The Tohoku Shinkansen (東北新幹線) is a high-speed railway line run by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It runs from Tokyo Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, to Shin-Aomori Station in Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture.
History
On 30 May 1969, the cabinet approved the New National Comprehensive Development Plan. It said the Tohoku Shinkansen should be built quickly. In 1970 the National Shinkansen Railway Development Act was passed. In January 1971 a basic plan named the Tokyo to Morioka section. On 1 April 1971 the construction plan for a set of new lines was approved. The Tohoku line had a design top speed of 260 km/h, and Japanese National Railways (JNR) was named as the builder. The route north of Morioka was disputed. The eastern route through Hachinohe City is the one that was built. The western route ran through Odate City in Akita Prefecture and near Hirosaki City. Groups on both sides lobbied for their route, and the dispute became a political issue. In June 1972 a new basic plan named the line to Aomori City. The prefecture then agreed to push for this line and a Japan Sea coast Shinkansen to be finished together. In November 1973 the construction plan for Morioka to Aomori was set. It named Hachinohe City as a main point and kept the design speed of 260 km/h. JNR offered several sites for the Aomori City station. Aomori City wanted a station beside Aomori Station, but the Ishie district was chosen in the end. That site is now Shin-Aomori Station.
Construction of the Tokyo to Morioka section began in November 1971. The first target for completion was 1976. After the oil shock and JNR's financial losses, the target moved to 1980 in 1977, and then to 1986 in 1981. From June 1978 to June 1980, new trains were tested on a test line. Protests along the route slowed the work. Residents worried about noise. On 10 March 1973 the route in southern Saitama was changed to an elevated line. A tunnel was added under the grounds of a school in Kita Ward. The protests caused delays and added cost. A commuter line, now the Saikyo Line, was built alongside. Agreements with local residents were signed in 1984, and full construction could go ahead. On 23 June 1982 the Omiya to Morioka section opened on a temporary basis. Trains ran at 210 km/h. Shinkansen Relay trains linked Ueno and Omiya.
The Tokyo Station platforms were needed for the Tokaido Shinkansen, so one platform was given to that line. To make up for this, a station was added at Ueno, and the plan change was approved in December 1977. In 1983 the board agreed that the line would run at about 230 km/h when Ueno opened. After a test run at 240 km/h, 240 km/h service was approved in November 1984. On 14 March 1985 the Ueno to Omiya section opened at 240 km/h. The route avoided built-up areas, so curves south of Omiya limited speed to 110 km/h. On 1 April 1987, JNR was split up. Its operating business passed to East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The Shinkansen Railway Holding Organisation took over the rail facilities for the Tokyo to Morioka section and leased them to JR East. The Tokyo to Ueno section was built by JR East under contract. On 20 June 1991 the Tokyo to Ueno section opened, so trips to Tokyo no longer needed a change to a conventional line. The Tokyo to Morioka trip became 20 minutes shorter. In October 1991 the holding organisation transferred the Tokyo to Morioka tracks to JR East and was dissolved.
On 1 July 1992 the Yamagata Shinkansen opened between Fukushima and Yamagata. Its Tsubasa trains ran through from the Tohoku Shinkansen. Track gauge work on that section had started in August 1988. The track was changed from narrow gauge to standard gauge, so Shinkansen trains could run on it. In November 1995 a new train control system, the Shinkansen Total System (COSMOS), was brought in. In December 1995 the train names were changed to match each route. The Nasuno service was added between Tokyo and Nasu-Shiobara, and some Yamabiko stops were cut. On 22 March 1997 the Akita Shinkansen opened from Morioka to Akita, with Komachi trains running through from the Tohoku Shinkansen. The E3 series was built to run at 275 km/h on the new line. The fastest Tokyo to Morioka trip was cut by 15 minutes, to 2 hours 21 minutes. The Aoba name was dropped in October 1997.
North of Morioka, the government put Shinkansen plans on hold in September 1982 because JNR's finances had worsened. In January 1987 the cabinet lifted the freeze. The Ishie district station, now Shin-Aomori Station, opened in November 1986 as a station on the Ou Main Line. Construction of the Morioka to Aomori section was approved on 22 August 1991, and a groundbreaking was held on 4 September 1991. At first the section was planned as a mix of full-size and mini-Shinkansen lines. In December 1994 the plan changed to full size from Morioka to Hachinohe, and the mini-Shinkansen plan for Hachinohe to Aomori was dropped. In December 1996 the government and ruling parties agreed to build Hachinohe to Shin-Aomori as a full-size line. Work on that section was approved in March 1998. On 1 December 2002 the Morioka to Hachinohe section opened, and the Hayate service began. On 4 December 2010 the Hachinohe to Shin-Aomori section opened, and the whole Tohoku Shinkansen was complete. It had taken 39 years from the 1971 construction plan. The trip from Tokyo to Shin-Aomori was then 3 hours 23 minutes.
On 11 March 2011 the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. Two trains were running at about 270 km/h between Sendai and Furukawa. Both stopped under emergency braking, and no passenger train derailed. A test train had a bogie derail in Sendai Station. Passengers on stopped trains were given food and drink, then taken by bus to shelters. All passengers were rescued by the following day. Inspections of the track finished on 16 March. The damage was about 1,200 places. Five stations were damaged, and a ceiling fell at Sendai Station platform. Tokyo to Nasu-Shiobara reopened on 15 March. Ichinoseki to Morioka reopened on 7 April, but a strong aftershock that night caused new damage at about 550 places. Service on the whole line resumed on 29 April 2011, but speed limits stayed on some sections. On 23 September 2011 the speed limits were lifted on all sections, and the normal timetable with a top speed of 300 km/h returned.
On 5 March 2011, Hayabusa trains began running between Tokyo and Shin-Aomori at 300 km/h. On 16 March 2013 a train ran at 320 km/h between Utsunomiya and Morioka. From 15 March 2014 all Hayabusa trains ran at 320 km/h, and the Akita trains were unified on the E6 series. On 26 March 2016 the Hokkaido Shinkansen opened from Shin-Aomori to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto, and Hayabusa and Hayate began through service with it. In March 2021 the Saitama section of the Ueno to Omiya line was raised to 130 km/h, which cut the time by about 1 minute. On 16 March 2022 a derailment happened during an earthquake near Fukushima. 16 of the 17 cars of Yamabiko 223 derailed. No one was hurt, but the earthquake damage stopped the line from Nasu-Shiobara to Morioka for the day. Full service resumed on 14 April, and the normal timetable returned on 13 May. On 16 March 2024 the Yamagata Shinkansen Tsubasa began running E8 series trains at 300 km/h. On 19 September 2024, Hayabusa and Komachi 6 separated between Furukawa and Sendai and stopped. There was no derailment and no injury. The cause was a metal piece touching a switch on an E6 series train. Service was stopped for about 5 hours. On 6 March 2025 Hayabusa and Komachi 21 separated near Nippori Station. There was no derailment and no injury, and the Transport Safety Board classed it as a serious incident. Coupled running was stopped until the cause was fixed. Komachi ran only between Morioka and Akita, and Tsubasa only between Fukushima and Shinjo. Coupled running restarted on 14 March 2025. JR East has announced a plan to raise the Morioka to Shin-Aomori section to 320 km/h. On 23 March 2026 a freight-only Shinkansen of 7 cars began a weekday service from Morioka to Tokyo, attached to a Yamabiko train. The line now runs from Tokyo to Shin-Aomori with through services to the Hokkaido, Akita and Yamagata Shinkansen.
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Written by an AI from the line's history on Japanese Wikipedia, nothing else, and checked by a program for dates and numbers that are not in those facts. It can still be wrong. Adapted from Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0; this text is shared under the same licence.